Next Steps for Public Administration Theory and Practice: Looking Backward and Moving Forward

• Author: James L. Perry
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12671
• Published date: 01 November 2016
• Date: 01 November 2016

850 Public Administration Review • November | December 2016

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 76, Iss. 6, pp. 850–851. © 2016 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12671.

James L. Perry is Distinguished

Professor Emeritus at the School of

Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana

University, Bloomington, and Distinguished

Visiting Professor at The University of

Hong Kong. He is editor in chief of

Public

Administration Review

.

E-mail : perry@indiana.edu

Symposium

Introduction

About the Conference

T he conference was held to honor two

anniversaries, the ninetieth anniversary of

the founding of Sun Yat-sen University and

the seventy-fifth anniversary of Public Administration

Review (PAR ) . More than 160 paper proposals were

submitted for the conference program committee ’ s

review and 80 papers were presented at the

conference. Five of the best papers presented at the

conference appear in the symposium.

The seventy-fifth anniversary conference owes much

of its success to Professor Jun Ma, who is now Sun

Yat-sen University ’ s vice president. Professor Ma was

ably supported by Professor Meili Niu and many

staff from the School of Government at Sun Yat-sen

University. We are grateful for their overall support

and generous hospitality during the conference.

The conference program committee was instrumental

in organizing the conference, soliciting and evaluating

proposals, and providing advice throughout the pre-

and post-conference process. Members of the program

committee included:

• James L. Perry, Editor in Chief, Public

Administration Review and Distinguished

Professor Emeritus, Indiana University,

Bloomington, USA

• Jun Ma, Professor & Director, School of

Government, Center for Chinese Public

Administration Research, Sun Yat-sen University,

China

• Hon Chan, Professor, City University of

Hong Kong

• M. Jae Moon, Underwood Distinguished

Professor, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea

Introduction to the Symposium Articles

The five articles in this symposium are infused with

themes that have recurred in public administration

theory and practice since PAR ’s founding in 1940.

The themes in the symposium articles—including

public organization performance, performance

management, innovation and public value creation,

government crisis management and legitimacy, and

ethical leadership—reinforce core interests of the field.

These themes are found regularly in PAR ’s 75 most

influential articles ( www.publicadministrationreview.

org ), among them 1940 ’ s classics such as Finer ( 1941 ),

Simon ( 1946 ), and Dahl ( 1947 ).

The lead article in the symposium by Andersen,

Boesen, and Pedersen ( 2016 ) reviews a significant

volume of literature to raise and address important

questions related to the clarity of the concept of

public performance. In recent years, the concept of

performance has displaced related concepts, such as

efficiency and effectiveness, which were commonly

used prior to the widespread use of the performance

concept. “Performance in Public Organizations:

Clarifying the Conceptual Space” provides the case

for and evidence supporting a more systematic and

intentional framework for performance assessment in

public administration. Their article persuasively builds

a case for the utility of knowing explicitly the types

of performance measured and not measured and the

importance of whose performance you are analyzing.

Stéphane Lavertu ’ s ( 2016 ) article, “We All Need

Help: ‘Big Data’ and the Mismeasure of Public

Administration,” is also strongly connected to the

performance theme. The irony of Lavertu ’ s argument

is that he strongly makes the case for the conceptual

clarity espoused by Andersen, Boesen, and Pedersen,

but simultaneously demonstrates how difficult it

can be to attain clarity, as a practical matter, in the

context of the pluralism of public institutions. The

title of Lavertu ’ s article draws from a famous line in

the 1937 Brownlow Committee report, but the more

immediate trigger for his analysis is the optimism

surrounding “big data” and “data analytics.”

1

Lavertu ’ s article is a cautionary tale that highlights

risks associated with big data. Lavertu ’ s advice for

reducing the risks of a data-rich future is for public

administration scholars and practitioners to be more

James L. Perry

Indiana University, Bloomington

The University of Hong Kong

Next Steps for Public Administration Theory and Practice:

Looking Backward and Moving Forward

This symposium emanates from a

conference hosted at Sun Yat-sen

University, Guangzhou, China, November

16–18, 2014.